A Bunch of Bored Magical Teens
by GryffindorPrincess0894
Summary: James, Sirius, Remus and Peter are bored so they decide to play a little game... Truth or Dare, but when Lily gets roped in things don't go exactly as planned... MWPP, James/Lily. ABANDONED
1. Singing, Stealing and Truth or Dare

**This is my first HP fanifc so please be gentle…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter :(**

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Chapter One: Singing, Stealing and Truth or Dare

It was nearing Christmas at Hogwarts, and the Marauders were growing restless. In their dorm, Remus, Peter and James were each lying on their beds. Remus, as usual, was absorbed in a book, James was staring aimlessly into the ceiling and Peter was testing a spell they had learnt in charms but was failing miserably. He had already destroyed the stool, blown holes in the bookshelf (Remus nearly had a heart attack and threatened to Avada Kedavra him into next Sunday but luckily no books were damaged), and made a rather large crack right down the centre of the roof.

At that moment Sirius Black burst into the room, ignored by all the others. "I'm so bored!" he stated throwing his hands into the air in exasperation.

"Aren't we all" replied James, not taking his eyes off of the ceiling.

Looking around the room he tried to figure out what he wanted to do. Finally he looked over at James and asked "That fun?"

"It dulls the boredom a bit" he replied in a monotone

That was good enough for Sirius. He made his way towards his own bed, lay down on his back and stared at the ceiling, mimicking James' position.

"Er.. what happened to the roof?" he asked noticing the crack for the first time, for it wasn't there when he left to go get some food from the kitchens an hour ago.

"Peter" Remus replied

"Geez, how'd you manage that one Wormtail? Weren't you meant to be aiming for the pillow?"

"Yes I was" he sighed, giving up on the spell

"And you do realise that the pillow is on the floor and not the roof right?" he asked in mock concern. "I'm guessing the stool and the bookcase was your doing too?"

"Y-yes" he whimpered earning a glare from Remus.

They sat in silence for a few minutes until James finally said "Ok we have got to find something to do"

"Well, well. What finally made the human rock decide to do something?" asked Sirius

"There's only so long a guy can stare at a roof, Padfoot"

"Ah. Well then what do you propose we do?" he said, moving to sit on the edge of his bed.

"How about a game?" piped in Peter.

"Ok, which ga-" but James was cut of by a sudden noise coming from Sirius' direction. He looked at his friend and saw that he was bouncing on the bed with excitement, looking a bit like a child on their birthday.

"I know, I know. How about" he paused for dramatic effect "Truth or Dare?"

"Oh, I don't know…" started Remus

"C'mon Moony, please." Sirius was now at the edge of Remus' bed, on his knees. _Oh my god he's begging. He's actually begging. Well that's new, he must really like this game…_

Remus sighed "Fine"

"YAY!"

"No!" said James "I hate Truth or Dare"

At first Sirius looked shocked that he didn't want to play, but then his expression changed into a devilish grin that made James rethink his outburst.

"You know" he started "I would hate that for the information on that little incident in our first year to get into the hands of the public…" James' eyes widened. _He wouldn't…_

"I'll play!" he said suddenly realising that this was Sirius, and he would.

Remus eyed them suspiciously, from the satisfied grin on Sirius' face to the look of horror on James'. "What incident?"

"Nothing." James replied a little too quickly, receiving another suspicious look from Remus.

"Um guys, what's truth or dare?" asked Peter from his chair in the corner.

"Well first a person spins a bottle, and they have to ask whoever it lands on truth or dare. If the person responds truth, they have to answer a question honestly, if they choose dare, they have to do whatever the darer tells them to. But just to make things more interesting we'll use the Veritaserum Sirius swiped from Slughorn" answered Remus.

"O-ok then, I guess that could be fun…" said Peter, still looking sceptical.

Sirius went to his bag and found an empty bottle. The four friends then gather in a circle on the floor and placed the bottle in the middle. Remus sat in between James and Peter, James between Sirius and Remus, and Sirius next to Peter.

"Who starts then?" asked Sirius

"Moony how 'bout you?" asked James

"Ok" he spun the bottle "Padfoot, truth or dare?"

"Truth"

James had a sudden coughing fit "_Cough_ wimp _cough_" Sirius glared at him, then opened his mouth to put a couple of drops of the Veritaserum Remus was holding.

"Who was the first girl you ever kissed and when" Sirius thought for a moment but Remus added "With tongue" he thought again, then smirked.

"Chelsea Butler, fourth year" he spun the bottle and it landed on Peter.

"Truth or dare?"

"D-dare" he whimpered.

"Good man Wormtail, take it like a Gryffindor" said James which earned another glare from Sirius.

"Ok then." Sirius started "I dare you to propose to McGonagall in your boxers" he finished with a smirk.

Peter whimpered but obediently began striping to his boxers. Once all clothing was discarded (save for the boxers) Peter got up and began to make his way to the door when it burst open and, coincidentally, McGonagall stepped into the room.

"Sirius Black! How many times do I have to tell you? Stop stealing from the kitchens!" at this moment she noticed the cowering Peter in front of her.

"Sorry ma'am won't happen again" replied Sirius calmly from his place on the floor.

"Actually" started James "Wormt- I mean _Peter_, has something he'd like to ask you, don't you Peter?"

Peter looked towards McGonagall "W-well a-actually…"

"What is it Peter!?" she exclaimed, still angry at Sirius' lack of responsibility.

"Um…" he got on one knee "W-will you m-marry me" he asked shakily.

McGonagall looked stunned for a moment then noticed the bottle on the floor and her face heated up with rage once more "NO!" With that Peter scampered away to hide under his bed and McGonagall turned to face Sirius, James and Remus remembering why she was here in the first place.

"Sirius, this is the fifth time this week you've stolen from the kitchens! We have breakfast, lunch and dinner as a school, why do you never eat then?!"

"Well normally I would but this week has been extra busy for me homework-wise and I've been spending my time in the library." He answered with an innocent look. She still didn't believe him but decided to stick with giving him a warning.

"Very well Mr. Black, I'll let you off this once but please try to manage your time more wisely from now on, and no stealing from the kitchens!" she said and Sirius nodded in response.

She turned to walk out the door but turned back to the three boys and added "By the way, the next time you play truth or dare I would advise you not to use me in your dares. And come up with something a little more original would you? You have no idea how many times I've been proposed to by Hogwarts students" She turned on heel and walked out the door, closing it behind her as she went.

Sirius was now grinning. "You can talk your way out of anything can't you?" asked James, annoyed.

"Looks like it" he was grinning even more broadly now that he knew he had successfully annoyed the hell out of his best friend, Remus on the other hand just rolled his eyes.

So really what _have _you been doing during meals?" asked James.

"Homework"

James stared at him incredulously. "So your telling me that you've missed a weeks worth of mealtime doing homework?"

"Yeah" replied Sirius. _Me? Homework? Yeah right_ he though. _But I can't tell them about the prank I've been planning, it would ruin the surprise. _

James and Remus still looked sceptical but didn't push on.

"Peter you can come out now" said Remus noticing his missing friend who appeared out from under the bed a second later.

"I am never picking dare again" he commented as he sat back down in the circle. Peter spun the bottle and it landed on Sirius.

"Truth or dare?"

"Dare" replied Sirius.

Peter thought for a moment until Remus tapped him on the shoulder and whispered something that made Peter squeak with delight. "Padfoot, I dare you to-"

He was cut of by Remus "Sing a song"

Sirius snorted "What kind of a dare is _that_"

"Wait, there's more. You have to sing the song that you always sing in the shower, through that window over there" he said pointing to the window beside one of the beds. Sirius paled and Remus grinned.

"I-I don't sing in the sh-shower" he stuttered

"Now you sound like Wormtail" commented James.

Sirius glared at all three, who were now snickering but he got up and went over to the window wishing there was no one outside, but doubted it for the window was looking out onto the lake and it was a beautiful, sunny Saturday. When he got to the window his doubts were proven right for there were at least 30 students outside. He groaned inwardly as he opened the window (he wasn't going to show any, well any _more_, signs of weakness). Sighing he stuck his head out the window and sang.

_Sometimes the feeling is right, you fall in love for the first time  
Heartbeat and kisses so sweet, summertime love in the moonlight  
Ah yippie yi yu  
Ah yippie yi yeah  
Ah yippie yi yu ooooh  
Now the summer is gone, you had to go back home  
Please come and see me again, I never felt more alone  
(Baby I am missing you) I want you by my side  
(And I hope you'll miss me too) Come back and stay  
(I think about you ev'ry day) I really want you too  
(You swept my feet right off the ground, you're the love I found)  
Doctor Jones, Jones, calling Doctor Jones  
Doctor Jones, Doctor Jones, get up now (wake up now)  
Doctor Jones, Jones, calling Doctor Jones  
Doctor Jones, Doctor Jones, wake up now (wake up now)  
Ah yippie yi yu  
__Ah yippie yi yeah  
Ah yippie yi yu ooooh  
__Ah yippie yi yu  
__Ah yippie yi yeah  
__Ah yippie yi yu ooooh  
All I think of is you, and all the things we had  
Doctor what can I do, why does it have to be like that  
(Baby I am missing you) I want you by my side  
(And I hope you'll miss me too) Come back and stay  
(I think about you ev'ry day) I really want you too  
(You swept my feet right off the ground, you're the love I found)  
Doctor Jones, Jones, calling Doctor Jones  
Doctor Jones, Doctor Jones, get up now (wake up now)  
Doctor Jones, Jones, calling Doctor Jones  
Doctor Jones, Doctor Jones, wake up now (wake up now)  
Ah yippie yi yu  
Ah yippie yi yeah  
Ah yippie yi yu ooooh  
Ah yippie yi yu  
Ah yippie yi yeah  
Ah yippie yi yu ooooh  
Please, please cure me, please, please cure me  
Please, please cure me, please, please cure me  
Doctor Jones, Jones (wake up now), Doctor Jones, Jones (wake up now)  
Doctor Jones, Jones (wake up now), Doctor Jones, Jones wake up now  
Ah yippie yi yu  
Ah yippie yi yeah  
Ah yippie yi yu ah  
Ah yippie yi yu  
Ah yippie yi yeah  
Ah yippie yi yu ah  
Doctor Jones, Jones, calling Doctor Jones  
Doctor Jones, Doctor Jones, get up now (wake up now)  
Doctor Jones, Jones, calling Doctor Jones  
Doctor Jones, Doctor Jones, wake up now (wake up now) _

When he finished he heard shouts from "SHUT UP!" and "YOU SUCK!" to "OH MY GOD VOLDEMORT IS ATTACKING!" but most people were just laughing, much like the three in the room behind him.

He shut the window as quickly as he could and walked back to his place in the circle. By now, James, Remus and Peter were howling with laughter. James was rolling around on the floor, Remus holding his stomach and crying and Peter had turned purple and was also crying, all from laughing too much or too hard. Sirius scowled at his friends and then pretended to ignore them.

After what felt like hours of laughing, but was probably only a few minutes, they finally stopped and James managed to choke out "Remus you have the best dares ever!"

"But it was my turn" stated Peter.

"But it was_ my_ idea" replied Remus.

"You have no idea how much I hate you right now" said Sirius to all three, still scowling. He then proceeded to spin the bottle which happened to land on James. "Truth or dare?" he asked.

"Dare" said James boldly, after Sirius' performance he didn't think anything could be much worse. But those words were quickly forgotten when Sirius grinned evilly.

"Well Prongs, on my way up here from the kitchens I noticed a Miss Lily Evans asleep on the common room couch, so my dare to you is this. I dare you to go over to her, but don't wake her, and kiss her on the lips." He finished with a rather large grin plastered on his face and James stared at him in horror while Remus just laughed and Peter looked scared.

"I can't go and kiss her while she's sleeping. I can't even kiss when she's awake. She'll kill me!" he rambled, starting to panic.

"So you're saying you don't want to?" asked Sirius, knowing the answer full well as James never stopped liking her since the first time he laid eyes on her.

"Ofcourse I want to but she doesn't!"

"You chicken?" asked Remus with a smirk.

"No" replied James "And aren't you meant to be the responsible one Mr. Prefect?" he asked narrowing his eyes at Remus.

"I'm a Marauder too Prongs, don't forget that" he said chuckling.

"Fine." He answered through clenched teeth "I'll do it." With that he stood up and headed for the door. Just before he walked out of the room, James asked "aren't you guys coming to see if I actually do the dare?"

"Trust me Prongs, we'll know" said Sirius. _What the hell does he mean by that? _thought James as he descended the stairs to the Gryffindor common room.

When he got down he noticed that there was no one else in the common room other then Lily and himself. Lily. She was sleeping, gracefully spread out on one of the couches, her head resting on the arm of it, and a book lying on her stomach. He took a deep breath and walked slowly towards her. _She's so beautiful_.

When he got to her, he kneeled down next to the couch, facing her sleeping form and bent down until his face was centimetres from hers. _This is it _he thought and he closed the gap between them, kissing her as gently as possible, savouring the feeling of her lips on his wishing the kiss would never end. But unfortunately she chose then wake up and pull away as quickly as she could. She then sat up, trying to figure out what had just happened.

Everything from then on was a blur to James. She had gasped and touched her lips as he watched her curiously. And then came the pain. The horrible pain of having Lily Evans punch you in the jaw.

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**The song that Sirius was singing is Dr Jones by Aqua for those who didn't know. **

**Please rate and review and tell me what you think guys. **


	2. Lily Joins

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter :(**

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Chapter Two: Lily Joins

He immediately grabbed his mouth in an attempt to lessen the pain.

"JAMES POTTER!" she shrieked as she stood up. "WHAT ON EARTH PERSUADED YOU TO DO THAT!?"

He stood up to defend himself but instead had to dodge as another fist nearly came into contact with his face and he decided the best option right now would be to run. Fast. _Now I know what Sirius meant. That bastard…_

Still holding his jaw he sprinted up the stairs to the boy's dormitories, and threw open the door to his own room with Lily close behind. They ran in circles around the room, dodging objects and jumping beds.

As James decided to use Sirius as a shield and ran behind him, Remus decided that, despite how hilarious this looked, it was time to end it. "Stop!" he yelled and Lily froze at the commanding voice.

"Stay out of this guys" she said as she realised who else was in the room "It doesn't concern you."

"Actually Evans, it does. See I dared James to kiss you" admitted Sirius with a guilty look.

"You did WHAT?" she glared at Sirius.

"Now, now Lily lets not overreact. We simply got bored and decided to play a game of truth or dare" explained Remus.

"But did the dare _have _to include me?" she whined.

"Well it was the worst one I could think of at the time" said Sirius.

"And why did you pick the worst one?" she asked getting annoyed.

Sirius looked at his feet and Remus answered "because he wanted revenge for laughing at him" she looked confused and he added "because of another dare"

She thought for a moment "Can I play?"

The group stared at her as if she had just sprouted wings. "You want to play truth or dare with _us_?" asked James who was now out from behind Sirius and had forgotten all about the pain in his jaw.

"Yes" she answered and James smiled. _She wants to hang out with me. I mean us. This is the happiest day of my life! _

"But why? Don't you hate us?" asked Peter

"Well, other than Remus" added Sirius.

"Ofcourse I do, but right now revenge seems so compelling" she had an evil glint in her eye which made the smile plastered on James' face falter.

"Well before we start we have to tell you that we're using Veritaserum for the truths" said James. Lily nodded.

They all sat in a circle again, with the bottle in the middle. Around the circle it went James, Sirius, Peter, Lily and Remus, but just as James reached for the bottle, Lily interrupted him.

"Wait. I think I should know what truths and dares have been done already, just to make it fair"

Sirius groaned and James snickered.

"Alright then Lily" began Remus "I started and asked Sirius who the first girl he kissed was and when, and he said Chelsea Butler, fourth year."

"Then I spun" continued Sirius "And it landed on Peter, so I dared him to propose to McGonagall in his boxers" he smirked.

"But she ended up barging into the room and Peter got rejected" said Remus and Peter whimpered.

"Why was she in your room?" asked Lily.

"She was yelling at Padfoot for stealing from the kitchens but he talked his way out of a punishment" said James scowling at Sirius.

Lily rolled her eyes and made a gesture that told them to continue, so Peter said "Well after that I-I spun the bottle a-and it landed on Padfoot again" _What is with these bizarre nicknames… _thought Lily.

"So naturally, Remus took over and dared Sirius to 'stick his head out the window and sing the song he always sings in the shower'" finished James grinning.

"And what song was that?" she asked curiously.

"Dr Jones" said Remus and everyone except Sirius roared with laughter.

"Haha, yes very funny but can we move along please people?" said Sirius bitterly.

When everyone stopped laughing Lily asked "So that's it so far?"

"That and lover boy getting the kiss he always dreamed of" Sirius added grinning as Lily and James narrowed their eyes at him.

"Prongs it's your turn" Remus cut in and James reached for the bottle and spun. It landed on Lily.

"Truth or dare?"

"Truth" she answered and Remus put a few drops of Veritaserum on her tongue.

"Ok. Who do you think is the most attractive guy here?" asked James smirking.

Lily's eyes widened and she tried to stop herself but couldn't and blurted out "Sirius Black"

Everyone gasped at her answer and she put a hand to her mouth trying to stop herself from saying anymore but the effects of the serum were too strong and she added "butjamesisstilldamnhot"

At this point she felt like crying. Now they knew that she thought James and Sirius were hot. _Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap… _she repeated over and over in her brain.

James looked shocked whereas Sirius looked smug. "You think I'm hot do you Evans?"

She scowled at him but didn't say another word, she was too scared that she might blurt out something else that she didn't want anyone to know. _Like the fact that James looks so cute when he's shocked._ She smiled at him then remembered where she was and who she was with and quickly got rid of it and spun the bottle. She didn't even notice Sirius' huge grin after she had smiled at James.

The bottle spun and ended up landing on Remus. "Truth or dare?" she asked him calmly, as if she hadn't just admitted that she thought her two greatest enemies were attractive.

"Truth" he replied and Sirius put some Veritaserum on his tongue.

"Ok then Remus, who was the first girl you ever snogged and when" she asked

"That's not fair! I already asked Padfoot that."

"Yes but I wasn't here was I?" she said with a smirk.

"Fine" he grumbled, turning pink.

_Uh-ho. Poor guy, I don't think he's ever snogged anyone. I gotta help him out _thought James. But just as he was about to speak Remus answered.

"Sarah Smith, third year"

Everybody's mouths dropped open in shock. "Oh my God. Moony, how'd you manage that? She was the hottest chick in school back then, no offence Lily" said Sirius.

"Offence taken" she said scowling.

But Remus didn't answer the question for he was too busy spinning. The bottle landed on James.

"Truth or dare?"

"Dare" said James (he wanted to impress Lily).

Remus grinned evilly and said "I dare you to let Lily kick you in her place of choice"

James groaned. "Why does everyone always take their revenge out on me?"

"Because you're an annoying, arrogant prat and Remus, you, are a God!" she said giddily.

James and Lily both stood up and as Lily walked in front of him he closed his eyes and then waited. A few seconds later he felt a hard blow to the shins and fell to the floor.

"Damn your strong" commented Sirius and Lily just smiled.

"I've wanted to do that for _so_ long" she said as James got back up and into the circle with a limp, eyes watering slightly.

"Hey mate, at least she didn't get you in the balls" said Sirius.

"You know I was thinking about it, but with me being a prefect and all I figured I'd spare him" Lily replied.

"Hey Wormtail. You haven't said anything in a while, not that that's unusual" said James, trying to steer the conversation away from his 'bits' in case Lily changed her mind.

"L-lily's v-very intimidat-ting" he said and then cowered as if she would kick him too.

"Relax Peter I'm not going to hurt you" she said smiling and Peter smiled back.

"Guys you wanna take a break and grab some lunch?" asked Remus.

"Sure" the rest chimed in.

--

When they got to the Great Hall it, much like the common room, was pretty much deserted. Only a few people were sitting at each of the tables, _the rest of them are probably outside having fun _thought James.

"Hey, why don't we finish the game outside later?" he asked.

"Yeah that sounds like fun" answered Lily without looking at him, which was a good thing considering the huge grin on his face. _Maybe today will be my lucky day. I'll ask her out again but thins time she'll say yes! _He thought. _But I gotta wait until the time is right…_

The five of them went to sit at the Gryffindor table, Sirius and James across from Lily, Remus and Peter. Lily decided to go for a little lunch as she wasn't that hungry, and had a salad and a chicken wing.

"Geez Lily" said Sirius "No wonder you so skinny, you hardly eat at all!"

"I do to" she protested "But I'm just not hungry at the moment"

"Sure" he replied sarcastically and she glared at him.

She began to eat and thought that the boys would too, for they had already filled their plates, Peter with so much fish and chips that Lily thought that he would surely pop once he ate it all, Remus with so much salad, potato, sausage and gravy that some of it was pouring onto the table, Sirius with spaghetti, five chicken wings and three bread rolls and James with huge helping of potatoes and at least one of every piece of meat on the table. But Lily was sadly mistaken, for now they had placed all of the sauces and dressings they could find in the middle of the table. Each of the boys were then closing their eyes and blindly grabbing the first thing they touched.

Lily stared in shock as they opened their eyes and some of them groaned. "I got tomato sauce" said Sirius happily.

Remus then called out "Salad dressing" and James said "Vinegar" then groaned.

"Oh well mate. Could have been worse" started Sirius "Just look at what Wormtail got" at that James snickered.

Lily curiously looked over to see a very pale Peter holding a tube of Wasabi.

"Um guys" she said trying to get their attention.

"Yes Lily" replied Remus.

"What the hell was that about?"

"Oh that was just the usual sauce run" said Sirius

"Sauce run?"

"That's right she's never seen it before" he said slapping his forehead.

"Well" continued Remus "The sauce run is just a little something we came up with in second year to make meals a little more… interesting"

"See you put all the sauces in the middle of the table then pick one bottle" said James.

"And then you have to use the whole bottle on your meal" finished Remus.

"Oh" was all Lily could say. _What kind of an idiot would do that? _she thought. Then, regaining her senses, she rolled her eyes and muttered "guys…"

A few minutes later and, to Lily's great surprise, everyone had finished eating. Everyone except for Peter that is, who had barely even touched his food which was now drenched in the whole tube of Wasabi thanks to James. _He's so immature _thought Lily as the boys egged Peter on to eat.

Finally Peter took one chip and put it in his mouth and about two seconds later he was running from the Great Hall as quickly as he could screaming "hot, hot, hot, HOT!" earning stares and laughter from the surrounding students and even Lily had to admit it was a pretty amusing sight.

After Peter had left the four decided to let him off eating the rest and headed for the Black Lake. "Do you think he'll find us alright?" asked Lily.

"Yeah he should, I mean we told him where we were going" answered Sirius and the others agreed.

When they were all seated near a tree at the Black Lake they decided to go on without Peter because he would probably take a long time.

"So whose turn is it anyway?" asked Sirius.

"I believe its Prongs' turn" replied Remus.

"Yeah and I've got the bruise to prove it" grumbled James and everyone else chuckled.

"Oh damn we forgot the bottle" said Lily.

"That's ok I'll get it" said James taking out his wand (once again trying to impress Lily).

"Actually-" began Lily but it was too late.

"Accio bottle" said James.

They heard a crash and looked up, the bottle had smashed through the window of the Marauders' room and was rocketing toward Lily.

Fortunately she ducked just in time and the bottle landed on a nearby clump of leaves, unharmed.

Sirius was the first one to speak "Smooth Prongs, smooth" he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Shut up Padfoot" he replied getting up to help Lily who had fallen on her back.

"I don't need your help" she said bitterly, getting to her feet and brushing herself off "If you had just listened to me for two seconds you would have found out that I have a bottle in my bag"

James was now starting to blush deeply but she took no notice and continued.

"But no, you have to do everything yourself because James Potter doesn't need anybody else but himself. Well fine!" she said walking towards the clump where the bottle landed and picking it up. "Take you damn prize" she thrust it into his hands "because you got it all by yourself." And with that she turned on her heel, picked up her bag and headed back towards the castle.

"Wait Lily!" called out James hurrying after her. _Well it's now or never I guess._ "Will you go out with me?"

She turned around, her face now red with rage "God! Your such and immature _prat_!" she screamed and she left through the castle doors, James staring at her retreating back.

"_Very_ smooth" said Sirius from behind him "But unfortunately I think that means no".

James turned and glared at him before heading towards the Gryffindor tower and their room. By now Remus was standing next to Sirius watching James.

"I don't understand how you can be such a jerk while you best friend is upset" said Remus shaking his head.

"Hey. You know I'm not good with all that sympathy shit" Sirius replied "So I do the next best thing"

"Make him more upset?"

"More or less" he said, both still staring at the spot where their friend had just disappeared. They stood in silence for a few minutes when Sirius said "I'm going to get those to together if it's the last thing I do"

"What?" said Remus now staring at Sirius, mouth open in shock at his friend's last words.

"C'mon I mean, it's like I'm making up for six years worth of damage" he said smirking "Very fun damage" he paused, thinking "And you're going to help me do it"

"WHAT?" he yelled "No, no, no, no. Don't go roping me into all this"

Sirius pouted, turning to Remus with puppy dog eyes. _Damn _thought Remus _puppy dog eyes work so much better when you can turn into a actual dog. _

He groaned "Fine. I'll do it" and Sirius' face lit up instantly.

"You know this is probably going to end up backfiring on us right?" asked Remus.

"Probably. But it'll be fun while it lasts" he replied happily. Remus just sighed and began to walk back up to the castle with his best friend.

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	3. The Little Brown Book

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter :(**

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Chapter Three: The Little Brown Book

James Potter was sulking, alone in his room. Yesterday, in only a matter of hours he had successfully managed to kiss, hang out with and then thoroughly piss off the girl of his dreams so much that now she wouldn't even talk to him. _I hate my life_ he thought bitterly, staring at the ceiling, much like he had done the day before.

The other three Marauders were getting worried about him. In the Great Hall was Peter, stuffing his face with food as he had missed both lunch and dinner the day before washing his mouth out with water thanks to his friends. Remus and Sirius, on the other hand, were in the library looking up books, even though it was a perfectly fine Sunday morning and they didn't have any homework as the holidays would start in three days.

"Why are we in here again?" asked Remus.

"Because we're looking for ways to get Lily and James together" said Sirius taking out a book and flipping through it.

"Are you _still _on that kick?"

"Yep sure am. And don't you like live here or something anyway?" this earned a glare from Remus.

"I would've thought you'd have forgotten this by now" whined Remus "And nobody can spend a day like this cooped up in an old library not even me!" he exclaimed which got him a severe shushing from Madam Pince the librarian. He didn't understand why though as they were the only ones in the library.

"Well we're on a mission so shut up and help me" whispered Sirius when Madam Pince left.

"Correction, _you're _on a mission. _I'm _just getting pulled along" said Remus but obediently started looking through books, the sooner they found something the sooner they could leave.

Sirius just chose to ignore his best friend's last comment and moved to a different section of the library.

Two hours later found the two Marauders in the section of the library with muggle books but with no luck so far. Remus was about to suggest that they give up when Sirius yelled out "YES!" and Madam Pince ran towards them to kick them out of the library.

"Get OUT!" she yelled as loudly as she could while still whispering.

"Please Madam Pince can I just borrow this one book first?" Sirius asked holding out a little book and giving her his famous puppy dog eyes.

She thought for a moment but then agreed "Oh alright, but only because hardly anyone reads the muggle books and I hate them to go to waste"

When the two boys left the library they decided to go to the common room and read the book as James would probably still be in their room. Well, Sirius decided and pulled Remus along with him.

--

In the common room, Remus sat examining the book as Sirius went upstairs to check on James to see if he was alright and also to make sure he wouldn't come down unexpectedly.

The book was very small. It was only about the size of Remus' palm and couldn't have been more than the thickness of his thumb. It was a light brown book with red writing on the cover spelling '_101 steps to create a successful relationship_' and underneath it in smaller writing was '_Play cupid and make a friend happy at the same time!_'

_Who on earth would write a book like this? _He thought looking for an author, and in the bottom right hand corner, in tiny writing read 'Author Unknown'. _Well that was helpful…_

He was about to look inside the book when Sirius came down the stairs.

"Your not serious about this are you?" asked Remus holding up the book.

"Ofcourse I'm Sirius. Geez, friends all this time and you still don't know my name" he shook his head in mock concern. Remus groaned.

"Please, I beg you no more Sirius/serious jokes"

Sirius grinned. _That's the second friend I've thoroughly annoyed in two days. Damn I'm good…_

"C'mon mate. You've put up with them for six years, what's different now?"

"The fact that you've been doing it for six years" said Remus in a bitter tone. "Anyway, how's Prongs?"

"Absolutely miserable" replied Sirius.

"So I take it he won't be coming down anytime soon?"

"Nope. And I think we should bring him some lunch later on too"

"Nawww I feel so proud" Remus said mockingly "My ickle Padfoot is growing up and becoming all loving and thoughtful"

"Shut up" said Sirius narrowing his eyes at him. Now it was Remus' turn to grin.

"Gimme that book" said Sirius, swiping it from Remus and sitting down on the couch next to him.

"101 steps to create a successful relationship" he read "Play cupid and make a friend happy at the same time" he grinned "This is the perfect book!"

"Is that what we're doing?" asked Remus "Playing cupid?"

"Yeah I guess we are" said Sirius thoughtfully, breaking into a wide grin.

"What?" asked Remus, not liking the look on Sirius' face.

"You said 'we'" he replied with an even bigger grin. Remus just looked horrified and then groaned.

"Now I _have _to help you don't I?" he asked with his face buried in his hands.

"Were you planning on backing out on me?" asked Sirius in pretend shock.

Remus just glared at him through an open gap in his hands. "Well you gonna read it or what?" he asked impatiently. Sirius opened the book and read the first page out loud which was only a paragraph.

_For those desperate few who have tried all else,  
__But can't seem to get those special two together,  
__This book will show you just what to do,  
__But can't do a thing when it comes to the weather. _

"But can't do a thing when it comes to the weather?" asked Remus incredulously.

"That person must really suck at rhyming" stated Sirius shaking his head. He turned the page again and in big bold writing at the top of the page it read 'Number 1: Observation'

Under it in smaller writing said the words 'First, you must observe the two people you are trying to get together. Analyze their relationship before taking any action for they may already be well on their way to getting together. Make note of the way they talk to each other, act towards each other, body movement when they are together and whatever else you feel is necessary.'

"Well Moony" started Sirius when he finished reading "Get out your quill and parchment 'cause its time to get analyzing" he finished with a dramatic gesture and Remus rolled his eyes.

--

It took exactly five hours to get James out of his room. At 5:30pm and after countless attempts to trick, yell at and even force James to come out, he finally did. For Sirius had remembered that he could blackmail James. "Oh dear" he said walking over to Remus "I would really _hate _to have to tell Moony about what happened in our first year…"

James shot up off his bed and ran over to Sirius to put a hand over his mouth. When Sirius got the hand away he said "So you've decided to come out have you?"

"Yeah, fine" grumbled James "I'll come out"

Sirius was grinning madly. As Sirius and Remus followed James downstairs, Remus whispered "Oi Padfoot. What _did _happen in first year?"

"I am so not losing power I have over James" replied Sirius.

"C'mon I won't tell him"

"There's a chance it could slip out"

"Like how?"

"I dunno. Maybe in a game of truth or dare or something" replied Sirius not knowing that he just gave his friend the perfect way to get the truth out of him.

_That's it! _Thought Remus_ the next time we play truth or dare I can ask him! _

At the bottom of the stairs James stood, waiting for his two best friends.

"Where are we going?" he asked them.

"How 'bout we go get dinner?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah whatever" said James.

As they walked down to the Great Hall they, coincidentally, spotted Lily coming out from the girls bathroom. Since she was still angry at James she decided to make him suffer a little bit. She ran towards James with a smile on her face, he got hopeful and smiled back. She then ran past him and hugged Remus and then Sirius.

"Hi guys" she smiled at them, ignoring James who now looked like he was about to cry.

"Hey Lily" replied Remus.

"You heading to the Great Hall Evans?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah, actually I am"

"Why don't you come with us?" asked Remus.

"Sure, why not?"

And with that she went to walk next to Remus, with James following behind, hands in his pockets, looking sad not noticing Sirius standing behind him. When they had had a reasonable head start, Sirius got out a piece of parchment and a quill and wrote 'Observations – Lily to James' at the top and underneath it wrote 'likes to ignore him, get his hopes up then crush him, seems to like James' friends' and on the back he wrote 'Observations – James to Lily' at the top and under it all he wrote was 'madly in love with her'.

He put the parchment back in his pocket, along with the quill and ran to catch up with the others. When he got to them he noticed that Lily was on the ground tying her shoelace, Remus was waiting patiently and James kept making movements as if he was trying to go over to her but thought better of it and moved back, it was only when James looked at the ground, sighed, then ruffled his hair, that Sirius hurried towards Remus and started pulling him out of the hall.

"Wha-" started Remus, then Sirius pointed to James and saw that he was ruffling his hair, making it even messier and this could only mean one thing. He was about to talk to Lily Evans.

Remus and Sirius then silently dashed behind a wall, far enough so that they wouldn't be noticed but also close enough so that they could hear what was being said.

When James noticed that Sirius and Remus were gone, his heart gave a little jump. _This is the moment I've been waiting for, she's finally alone… _

"Damn it, I'm thirsty" she mumbled.

"Uh Lily?" he said and she looked up, then around and groaned.

"C-can I talk to you for a second?" he asked nervously. She stood up and nodded her head coldly.

"I guess"

"Listen" he started "I'm really, really sorry about yesterday. I acted like a real prat, but in my defense, I was only trying to impress you" She eyed him for a second before braking into a soft smile.

"I'm glad you said that, it means a lot to me" James had never been so happy in his life.

"Oh and by the way, I have something for you" he said, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a quill. She took it from him.

"Uh thanks?" she said as if she wasn't sure if to be pleased or offended. But just as she said that James took out his wand, muttered something and the quill magically turned into a red rose.

"Oh!" she sighed and, to James' satisfaction gave him a nice long hug. "Thank you" she said happily once she let go "it's beautiful"

"And here I was thinking you were a complete screw up" she chuckled.

"Why thank you" he said sarcastically.

"You know what I mean"

"Yeah I do. But I'm actually pretty good in Transfiguration and DADA if I do say so myself"

"I can see" she said still smiling.

"Here" James said, taking the rose from her and turning it into a nice cool glass of pumpkin juice. She smiled more broadly and took the juice from him.

"You were listening?" she asked.

"I always listen to you Evans" he replied.

She went to go give him another hug when she realized she still had the juice in her hand and spilled it all down the front of and down her top.

"Oh crap!" she exclaimed.

James took out his wand and proceeded to turn the glass into a napkin.

"Thanks" she said starting to wipe herself off.

Now normally around Lily Evans, James would never say what he was about to say but with all the hugs and praising he had gotten, his brain was a little fried and he didn't even think before he talked.

"Hey Evans, how bout we go back to my dorm and I help you lick that off?" he said wriggling his eyebrows.

At his words she stopped what she was doing and looked up at him. She was glaring, her face red, and he knew he was in for it.

"James Potter" she started off scarily calm "I should have known that you would never stop being such an INSOLENT JERK!" she finished, screaming.

"I-I was only joking" he whispered, cowering.

"Joking or not, I was an idiot to think you would ever grow up!" She turned to leave but James caught her around her wrist.

"Please Lily, don't go" he said getting desperate.

"Let go of me" she said coldly.

"No Lily, please, just listen to me" she tried to break out of his grasp but he was too strong. She decided to do the only thing else she could think of. Kick him where it hurt most.

In less then two seconds she found herself free of his grip. Looking down on him from the floor, sprawled out and holding his 'bits' she noticed he was crying, and she could tell it wasn't just out of pain. She sighed.

"I'm sorry, I guess I overreacted a bit"

"Just a bit" he managed to choke out.

"C'mon, let's take you to Madam Pomfrey" she said bending over to help him up. As they left, James leaning on Lily for support, they had the strangest conversation.

"Hey Potter?"

"Yeah?"

"How 'bout we put these last couple of days behind us? You know, pretend it didn't happen"

"Ok. But only up until when we went to the Black Lake"

"Ok" she said and smiled. What the pair didn't know was that up until now they were being watched.

"Wow" said Remus when James and Lily left.

"Yeah" replied Sirius.

"That was" Remus paused looking for the right word "unexpected" he finally finished.

"Yeah" agreed Sirius, taking out a piece of parchment and scribbling a few notes on each side, then putting it back into his pocket, but Remus just managed to read what he had written, 'need further observation, this might take a while…' Remus shook his head.

"C'mon Padfoot. Let's go get dinner"

"Ok" and they walked towards the Great Hall.

"Where's Wormtail anyway?" asked Sirius just before entering.

"I dunno" replied Remus "I haven't seen him all day"

"That's because for the first half of the day he was stuffing his face with food and the second, he was getting his head flushed down a toilet by Lucius Malfoy" said a cold voice from behind them. They turned and glared at a greasy-haired boy with a crooked nose.

"And how would you know Snivellus?" asked Sirius, still glaring.

"Because I suggested it to him" replied Severus Snape with a sneer. At his last comment, Sirius and Remus went red in the face and began to chase Snape, yelling both rude and threatening comments at him as they went.

--

Back in the corridor leading to the hospital wing, Lily and James walked in silence. They opened the doors and Madam Pomfrey came rushing to their side.

"What happened?" she asked, looking at the pale and limping James Potter.

"Kicked in the balls" he replied in a croaky voice, obviously the walk had taken its toll on him and Lily blushed furiously. And when Madam Pomfrey wasn't looking, as she was too busy making his bead, Lily mouthed 'I'm sorry' to him again and James mouthed back 'it's ok'. She smiled and helped him in to the bed.

"Miss Evans I suggest you leave at once" said Madam Pomfrey "he needs his rest"

"Ok" she said.

But as Madam Pomfrey left to go find the right potion for James she added "You know this doesn't change anything between us right?"

He nodded and she headed for the door. But just as she put her hand on the doorknob she heard his voice.

"Lily?" she turned to face him "I'm not giving up on you"

She gave him a sad smile then turned and left.

* * *

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**I appreciate it. **


	4. Questions and Answers

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter :(**

**Longest chapter yet, I feel so proud.**

* * *

Chapter Four: Questions and Answers

The rest of the day went quickly and before they knew it, it was Monday morning, two days before they left for the Christmas holidays. Lily went back to hating the Marauders and James went back to desperately trying to get her to go out with him. Meanwhile Sirius and Remus were still observing Lily and James' relationship and taking notes when necessary.

"I can't believe you got detention without _me_!" James cried from his bed in the Marauder's dorm. It was nine o'clock in the morning, they still hadn't gotten out of bed and would most likely be late for breakfast.

"Well mate you were sort of in the hospital wing with and thanks to a miss Lily Evans" replied Sirius sighing, this was the fifth time that day that James had asked that for he had only found out yesterday and couldn't pester them due to being in the hospital wing which he got back from very late the night before.

"And it's not like we intended upon getting detention. It was all Snivelly's fault" said Remus bitterly.

James just grunted but didn't push on. "How's Wormtail anyway?"

"A bit shaken. I mean who wouldn't be after having your head flushed down a toilet repeatedly?" replied Remus.

"Where is he anyway?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen him since we bashed Snivellus and rescued him. McGonagall took him away straight after we got detention, along with those two Slytherin gits" he said even more bitterly (if that was possible).

"Well at least Snivelly got what he deserved"

Sirius snorted "All he got was a black eye and a lot of very bad bruises, he deserved so much more"

"Is that all?" asked James incredulously. "When he came into the hospital wing he was put in the bed next to mine, I was going to hurt him but I noticed he was already moaning as if he was on his death bed!"

"Bloody wimp" muttered Sirius.

"Why were you gonna hurt him?" asked Remus. "I mean, you didn't know what he did yet"

"Well it was mainly because he's Snape, and he was within two meters of me" James replied and added "and he was alive"

"Ah yes good point" said Sirius

"How did McGonagall find you guys anyway? And why didn't you beat him up more?" asked James.

"Well Lucius Malfoy, being the coward that he is, went and got her. I think he thought that he wouldn't get in trouble if he got her" said Remus.

"Boy was he wrong" added Sirius "And now me, Moony, Malfoy and Snivellus have all got detention"

"But at least Snape's still in the hospital wing right now, otherwise we'd have to endure another day in his greasy presence" pointed out Remus shuddering.

"And at least he doesn't know what you got in there for" sniggered Sirius.

James began to laugh but stopped abruptly looking pale and horrified. "Uh guys?" he managed to choke out "I sort of, might have left the healing potion on the bedside table between me and Snivellus" the last part was barely a whisper.

"Yeah but it doesn't have a label for what it does" said Sirius dismissively "Just the name of the potion"

"PRONGS YOU IDIOT" shouted Remus, ignoring Sirius "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HE CAN DO WITH THIS INFORMATION?"

"But-" started Sirius, about to make his point about the label again.

"YOUR AND IDIOT TOO" shouted Remus, turning his attention towards Sirius. "THAT POTION IS ONLY USED FOR ONE THING AND WHO'SE THE TOP OF THE CLASS IN POTIONS?" he paused for a second but went on without waiting for an answer "SNIVELLUS! WHICH MEANS THAT HE'S PROBABLY ALREADY FIGURED OUT WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES ALREADY AND IS PLANNING ON A WAY TO GET REVENGE ON JAMES!" he finished panting, heavily out of breath.

James and Sirius just started at him with shocked expressions. It wasn't often that Remus shouted (at least not at them) but when he did it was usually over something far more important.

Remus sighed and fell back onto his bed muttering "I'm sorry, I overreacted, it's just with the Quidditch match coming up and Sirius dragging me around on his stupid little mission…"

Sirius coughed loudly and James eyed them both suspiciously.

"What mission?"

"Nothing" replied Sirius quickly "anyway, back to Moony" he said nervously.

"Well with Quidditch and everything and with.." he paused, searching for the right words.

"That time of month coming up?" suggested Sirius.

Remus thought for a second "Yeah, for lack of better term. I'm just a bit stressed" he sighed again.

"It's ok Moony we understand" said James soothingly and he and Sirius went to sit on either side of Remus. The wolf sat up and James added "besides didn't we agree on calling it his 'furry little problem'?"

They all chuckled and James and Sirius pulled him in for a long brotherly hug. Unfortunately Lily Evans chose that moment to barge into the room.

She looked from one boy to the next, no one making a sound, as if they were in shock. "I'll just… go" said Lily, blushing. But before she could leave the room, they let go of each other and Sirius spoke.

"It's ok Evans, we got nothing to hide"

Lily looked skeptical but came in and closed the door behind her anyway.

James and Sirius stood up, Remus half concealed by James, and Lily noticed that they were all sans shirt and her mind began to wander.

Now he must have noticed her uncomfortable look so Sirius added "we're not gay Evans. It was just a hug"

"Well then why are you all shirtless?" she blurted out.

"Because we just woke up" said James.

"But your meant to be in the Great Hall eating breakfast right now" she meant to talk to their faces but couldn't help but stare at James and Sirius' gorgeous chests.

_Wow _she thought _Quidditch does them good…_

"We had a" started Remus getting up at last and standing between the two other boys "late dinner last night" the boys grinned for they knew that 'late dinner' meant that they had stolen from the kitchens (again).

"Oh my God Remus!" said Lily running over to said boy and inspecting his chest before pulling him in for a hug. "What happened? You have all those scars, they look painful" she said worriedly.

"Oh that's nothing" said Remus as she pulled away "just a little accident, nothing to worry about" he gave her a warm smile and she smiled back. _Well Quidditch hasn't done badly for him either _thought Lily _Bloody hell what am I thinking? I have to focus on something other than their chests…_

There was now an uncomfortable silence between the four of them and James decided to break it.

"So why were you breaking into our dorm in the first place anyway?" he said light-heartedly but this obviously offended Lily because she went red.

"Well McGonagall asked me to make sure you guys weren't out pranking someone" she glared at them.

"Well we're not" said Remus lightly and Lily softened considerably while James inconspicuously glared at Remus for being able to do that to Lily.

"Also" she began looking embarrassed "I wanted to know if…" she trailed off.

"Yes?" asked Remus politely.

"Well you see all my friends are going away for the holidays and I was wondering if…" she was blushing furiously by now and Sirius looked quite pleased at her predicament "if I could maybe hang out with you guys over the holidays?"

James was had an ear-to-ear grin on his face and Sirius looked smug so Remus answered for them.

"Sure Lily, it would be a pleasure"

She smiled at him and looked extremely relieved. Another awkward silence caused her to change the subject again.

"So, when's the next Quidditch match?" she asked.

"Tomorrow" said James immediately, he wasn't Quidditch captain for nothing "Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, last game of term and the next day everyone goes home. If we win this match by more than 170 points then it puts us in the lead for the House Cup, and Hufflepuff are a push-over" he finished proudly.

One of the reasons the Marauders usually got away with their pranks was because they were fast and fit thanks to Quidditch (well except Peter) and the teachers could never prove it was really them.

"Cool" said Lily stupidly.

"Yes well we'd better get going or we're going to miss out on training and then we won't be able to brag" said Sirius.

"Oh no, now we couldn't have that" said Remus sarcastically.

"Yeah so, we'll see you on the holidays" said James to Lily, smirking.

"Sure" she said and left the room with a slight blush.

When Lily had left James, being the Quidditch captain, put on his scarlet robes, grabbed his broom and headed for the pitch to set up for their practice.

While Remus and Sirius were putting their own Quidditch robes on, Sirius brought them back to a certain subject he'd been wanting to discuss with Remus.

"This is perfect" he said randomly.

"What is?" asked Remus.

"That Lily's going to be hanging with us"

"And why, pray tell might that be?"

"Because this is a perfect opportunity to observe Lily and James, without everyone else around impacting their relationship!" he exclaimed happily.

"Sirius…"

"Yes? What is it that you're serious about?" said Sirius sniggering at his own joke.

Remus groaned "What have I told you about the serious/Sirius jokes? And I knew there was a catch to you letting Lily stay with us"

"What can I say? I'm Sirius Black, the Great One" he replied grinning.

"C'mon Mr. Great One or we'll be late to practice and were going to have one severely pissed of Captain on our hands"

"Aye, aye sir" said Sirius saluting Remus as he just rolled his eyes.

But just as the two boys were leaving the dormitory, Sirius gave Remus a hard kick in the shins.

"Hey! What did you do that for?"

"That was for nearly spilling our secret before" hissed Sirius.

Remus looked bewildered for a moment then realization hit him "Oh you mean about the mission?"

"Yeah"

"Sorry"

"It's ok"

--

Six hours later, the two Marauders walked back into their dorm, tired and sweaty with a beaming James behind them saying "After that practice we'll beat them for sure!"

Remus and Sirius just groaned, flopped on their beds and fell asleep straight away. As for James, he was so excited that he didn't even notice the letter lying on Peter's usually messy bed which was now very clean and kempt.

James had a shower, brushed his teeth and lay down in his bed thinking that there was no possible way he could get to sleep tonight. But within minutes, James' snoring was ringing through the dorm, unnoticed by anyone for they were all asleep.

--

The next morning James woke very early. He looked at the watch next to his bed and saw that it read 7 o'clock. _Four hours until the match. Well I might as well start getting ready._

He got out of bed and noticed the two other sleeping figures. _Ah, I should let them sleep. They were exhausted yesterday and I need my team members fully awake at the game today!_

So he did all his morning preparations and came out of the bathroom at 7:15am. He was a guy after all and didn't need a lot of time in the bathroom. _Unlike some… _he thought bitterly _I'm not going to name names SIRIUS BLACK._

Sirius unfortunately was on of those guys who took more than half an hour in the bathroom getting ready. What for? James never knew.

He got out a copy of some book about Quidditch his mum had sent him and began reading through, looking for tips on how to beat Hufflepuff.

It was 8:30am when James decided to wake up Remus and Sirius, seeing as how breakfast was at 9 o'clock. He decided to wake them with some 'oomph' so he cast a sonorous charm on his voice, stood between their beds and yelled "WAKE UP YOU LAZY BUMS ITS QUIDDITCH TIME!"

With his already super enhanced voice plus yelling, James had to say that it was pretty loud. And that made it all the more hilarious when Sirius and Remus fell out of their beds in fright.

Sirius had fallen with his sheets, so he got tangled in them and ended up getting stuck, whereas Remus had fallen and immediately grabbed his wand, standing up to see what the cause of the commotion was and defend himself is necessary.

It took the two a while to realize that James was now on the floor, laughing so hard that his stomach hurt and that he had just pulled one on them.

Sirius, after he had gotten away from his blankets was about to start yelling at him when Remus' voice stopped him.

"Hey James?" he asked.

"Yeah?" said James once he had regained his composure.

"How long have you been up?"

"And hour and a half, give or take. Why?"

"Did you even notice this note on Wormtail's bed?" asked Remus holding up a folded piece of parchment which obviously came from the bed.

"Nope" said James coming over to examine it with Sirius.

"Well then I think you need better glasses" said Sirius snickering.

James glared at him but didn't say anything. "What's it say?"

Remus took the letter and unfolded it then began reading aloud. "Dear guys, had to leave, family stuff, Wormtail."

"Huh" said James staring at the letter.

"Hope his family is alright" said Sirius.

"Awww ickle Padfoot is all worried about Wormy" said Remus grinning for he knew it annoyed him. A lot.

"Shut up" grumbled Sirius as James began to laugh.

--

When the boys had all gotten ready they went down to the Great Hall for breakfast, late of course thanks to Sirius. They were greeted with lots of encouragement from fellow Gryffindors for the match that would start in less than two hours and ate in silence, each worried about the outcome of the match in their own way.

_Wow, what if we win? Maybe Lily will admire me more? But what if we lose? And let all of the Gryffindors (Lily included) down? They'll hate us! They'll hate me! Okay strategies, got to think about the strategies. Don't want to forget all that we practiced. Now when we lift off I have to make sure to go to the west side of the pitch that's usually where… _thought James.

Remus was thinking _Okay, I have to do well today, if I don't then James will kill me. No wait, what was the word he used yesterday? Oh yeah, pulverize. But if I do, do well then James promised to buy me the book of my choice no matter how much it costs. And he's practically rich! I can take my pick from any book in the world…_

While Sirius had a different approach. _I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die. Then James will resurrect me and then he'll kill me even more. Is that even possible? Well if it is then James will do it because I've totally forgotten everything he told us yesterday. Okay maybe if I remember what I was thinking yesterday then it will come back to me. Yeah… that'll work. What was I thinking yesterday? Oh I remember! I had that stupid little song stuck in my head. 'On the good ship lollipop, it's a sweet trip to the candy shop. Where the bon-bons play on the sunny beach…_

All around, they were quite neurotic but finished breakfast with fake smiles plastered in their faces and walked quickly back to the dorm to get ready for the match.

"Where's my broom?!" shouted James from the closet.

"It's in my bed!" shouted Sirius back from the bathroom.

"Why's it in there?" asked James.

"Because I threw it at you this morning but I missed and it landed on his bed" yelled Remus from under his own bed.

"Ok!" said James.

"Has anyone seen my shoes?" asked Remus coming out from under the bed and walking towards the closet.

"Which one?" asked Sirius exiting the bathroom and going over to his bed.

"Both" replied Remus searching for his shoes in the closet.

"Left is behind the bookcase" said Sirius.

"And right is in the sink" said James walking over to the bathroom. "I'll get it, I'm heading there anyway"

"Thanks mate" said Remus.

"Oi guys?" said Sirius from under his covers "Anyone seen my lucky boxers?"

"Uh the ones with bludgers on them or the ones with clovers on them?" asked James.

"Bludgers" replied Sirius.

"Oh they're on the roof" said Remus.

"How'd they get there!?" asked Sirius.

"Remember that night you got drunk?" asked James.

"Oh yeah…" replied Sirius sheepishly. He grabbed his wand, opened the window and said "Accio Bludger boxers" and they came whizzing into his hand.

By the time all three boys were ready it was 45 minutes until the match and they had to leave. They went into the change rooms to find the rest of the team waiting and James said his usual pre-match pep talk so that when he finally finished, the match was to start in one minute.

Outside, the stadium had filled quite quickly and the commentary had already begun. The Hufflepuffs then began walking out onto the pitch.

"Now here come the Hufflepuffs with keeper and team Captain Amos Diggory in the lead, then the chasers Miley Jones, Eric Stebbins and Fiona Hopkins, beaters Nathan Whitby and Collin Carter and finally seeker Robin Maverick" said a thoroughly excited Andrew Jordan.

The Gryffindor team entered the stadium to hear Jordan announcing them all. "And the Gryffindors! Keeper Stanley Wood, chasers Remus Lupin, Karl Johnson and Hannah Taper, beaters Sirius Black and Sally Douglas, and seeker and team Captain, James Potter enter the field!"

The crowd roared as the Gryffindor team assembled on one side of the pitch while the Hufflepuffs on the other with Madam Hooch standing in the middle. "Potter, Diggory shake hands" she commanded and James and Amos came to the centre and shook hands solemnly.

"Teams to your places!" she called out and the teams assembled in the right order. She opened the struggling box and released the bludgers and the snitch, then threw the quaffle in the air and blew her whistle.

The fourteen players shot off the ground as Jordan yelled "And they're off!"

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	5. Quidditch and PuppyDog Eyes

**I am so terribly sorry that I haven't updated in so long but I will update more frequently.  
And I love all the people that have reviewed so far, you can all get hugs and cookies :)**

**Quidditch Team Members:**

**Hufflepuff:  
Keeper – Amos Diggory  
Chasers - Miley Jones, Eric Stebbins and Fiona Hopkins  
Beaters - Nathan Whitby and Collin Carter  
****Seeker - Robin Maverick**

**Gryffindor:  
Keeper - Stanley Wood  
Chasers - Remus Lupin, Karl Johnson and Hannah Taper  
Beaters - Sirius Black and Sally Douglas  
Seeker – James Potter**

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Chapter Five: Quidditch and Puppy-Dog Eyes 

…_Where bon-bons play on the sunny beach of Peppermint Bay. Oh, oh I remember now! _Thought Sirius as he soared through the sky, spotted a Bludger and hit it _Ha ha! No death for Sirius Black today!_

James felt the wind sweep through this hair and his nerves were completely forgotten, he flew towards the west side, as they had established that that was where you could get the best view of the entire pitch and began searching for the Snitch.

"Gryffindor is in possession of the Quaffle, Karl Johnson of Gryffindor heading for the Hufflepuff goalposts, dodges a Bludger sent by Carter and he's looking good, and, oh, YES HE SCORES! TEN-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

Johnson got a pat on the back from some nearby teammates and he looked extremely happy with himself for scoring the first goal of the game for Gryffindor.

"Now it's Stebbins in possession, and he passes to Jones, and she's coming up to the goals and- whoa! Nice steal for Lupin!"

Indeed Remus had caught the ball from Miley Jones and was shooting off to the other side of the pitch, he leaned right and so did Diggory.

"He's about to shoot, he's getting there, he's- GRYFFINDOR SCORES! WHAT AN OUTSTANDING GOAL FROM LUPIN!"

It was now twenty-zero to Gryffindor, yet James had seen no glimpse of the little Golden Snitch yet.

"Now its Hufflepuff's Fiona Hopkins with the Quaffle, she zooms past both Gryffindor Beaters, and she's lined up for the goal and she shoots and- dammit, she scores! Twenty-ten for Gryffindor" Jordan began mumbling some choice comments bitterly but immediately went back to the commentary as McGonagall eyed him beadily.

"Hannah Taper has the Quaffle now, and, watch out for that Bludger! Ouch, that must have hurt, she's been knocked down thanks to that no-good piece of scum on a broom, Whitby."

"JORDAN!" yelled McGonagall.

"Sorry miss, just telling it like it is. Now Hopkins with the Quaffle, she passes to Stebbins. He flies off to the Gryffindor goals, he shoots and... I DON'T BELIEVE IT! WOOD'S SAVED IT!"

"Now Jones is in position and she's passing to Hopkins who... drops the Quaffle! It's caught by Lupin and OH MY GOD ITS LOOKS LIKE POTTER HAS LOCATED THE SNITCH!"

And there was James shooting directly into the ground, closely followed by Robin Maverick, all eyes on him and not a single person noticing Remus sneaking towards the goalposts. This was, in fact, one of the strategies carefully practiced to perfection in yesterday's training session, for James hadn't actually seen the Snitch.

Fiona Hopkins had only just noticed Remus and was now speeding off after him, her flight was cut short though, as Sirius sent a Bludger towards her and she had to swerve to avoid it.

"AND LUPIN SCORES! THIRTY-TEN TO GRYFFINDOR!" at this all heads turned towards Remus, this time not noticing James silently eying and speeding off after the Snitch.

"What great use of teamwork and strategy being seen here today by the Gryffindor team, especially those feisty Marauders! They can do practically anything together, their pranks now legendary and- "

"JORDAN YOU ARE NOT ADVERTISING THE MARAUDERS! GET ON WITH IT!" yelled McGonagall.

"Yes miss, sorry miss. Anyway now its Hufflepuff in possession of the Quaffle, whoa look at Stebbins go, and he's shooting and- he scores! Damn him! Thirty-twenty to Gryffindor."

_Oh shit, _thought Remus, _we need to score two more goals before Prongs can catch the Snitch, and it looks like he's spotted it! Damn it Padfoot we need help!_

But just as he thought this he spotted Sirius shooting a Bludger at just the right angle so that it would stay away from his team, but also now speed off towards Miley Jones who had the Quaffle. Remus took the hint and flew just under her so that he could catch it if she dropped it.

The Bludger was soaring towards her but she ducked just in time, although, since she was still in a daze, Hannah Taper, who was on Jones' right, managed to knock it out of her hands and was speeding along towards the Hufflepuff goals.

"Taper now in possession and heading towards the goals and- SHE SCORES! FOURTY-TWENTY TO GRYFFINDOR!"

Now Fiona Hopkins had the Quaffle but was cornered by both Remus and Karl Johnson but it was Karl who got the Quaffle off of her.

"Johnson has the Quaffle and he's going for the goal, c'mon now you can do it, a little further and- OH HE'S HIT BY A BLUDGER! But look, Lupin's got it now and, he's lining up for the goal and- HE SCORES!"

James grinned at Remus; they were enough points ahead so that he could catch the Snitch that he had been tailing inconspicuously for a little while now.

"And would you look at that! It looks like Gryffindor Seeker, James Potter has spotted the Snitch and he's speeding after that thing as if his life depended on it, Maverick's now following him but he's too far back to get it before Potter- he's gaining on it- LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, JAMES POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WIN; TWO HUNDRED TO TWENTY!"

The gold and red crowd roared with delight, it was almost deafening. James and Sirius landed first, closely followed by Remus as the Gryffindors swarmed around them.

"Whoooooooooo" shouted Sirius from the top of the crowd as he, Remus and James were being lifted onto peoples shoulders and carried to the common room, the rest of the Gryffindor team members were also carried but were a little behind them so the three Marauders couldn't see them very well.

James, Sirius and Remus were ecstatic; they were now in the lead for the House Cup. Everyone in the common room pitched in together to form quite a loud celebration and it was hours before people had calmed down enough to be able to talk to each other properly.

It was about four o'clock when the three remaining Marauders found a spot in the common room to be able to talk.

"Pads that was brilliant!" said James.

"Yeah, we wouldn't have been able to score those last two goals without you" added Remus to a now grinning Sirius.

"Thanks guys but Moony was the one that actually scored most of the goals"

"Yeah, I couldn't catch the bloody Snitch without you" said James and Remus beamed, "although it took you two long enough, do you know how long I was after that thing?" he added as an afterthought, but the other two knew he was just joking.

Sirius then proceeded to be mock offended and hit James upside the head.

Remus rolled his eyes and then grinned "you know we couldn't have done it without our brilliant Captain to lead us"

"Yeah, who else would keep us on a Quidditch pitch for six hours until we had everything right" said Sirius playfully but then turned serious, "but seriously mate-"

Remus snorted.

Sirius glared.

Remus gave him an angelic look.

Sirius glared.

Remus gave him puppy-dog eyes.

Sirius faltered.

James burst out laughing.

So did Remus.

Sirius glared at both of them.

"You know Pads" said James once he and Remus had stopped laughing, "I think Remus is better at puppy-dog eyes than you are"

"Hey!" said Sirius indignantly, lightly hitting James across the head.

"Can we never have a meaningful conversation?" asked Remus and the other boys just grinned.

"But as I was saying, Prongs buddy, you are the best Captain and Seeker Gryffindor has ever seen" said Sirius, with a genuine smile.

Remus nodded and they all stared at each other for a little while, a comfortable silence between them, no more words needed for they all somehow knew what the other was trying to say.

Then Sirius suddenly embraced the two other boys and said, mock sobbing, "aw, I love you guys!"

Remus and James just rolled their eyes and hugged back. Once they let go, the three boys began chatting about Quidditch in general, girls, pranks and basically marauder stuff. They left to talk to others for a little while but ended up in that exact same place, still talking later on. It was a little while before Remus noticed the red-head girl nervously walking up to them. He nudged Sirius and pointed to her just as James turned around, looking straight into a pair of green, almond-shaped eyes.

"H-hi Lily" said James.

"Hey guys" she said warmly, addressing all three boys, Sirius and Remus waved at her.

"Congratulations on your win today, you were all awesome" she said quietly.

"Why thank you Ms Evans" said Sirius, looking smug.

"Hey Sirius, didn't you say you wanted to go and see something, you know, over _there"_ said Remus trying to drag Sirius across the room.

"I did?"

"Yes you did" replied Remus, now successfully managing to pull him away. Lily gave him a grateful smile that he returned with a wink.

James was too busy staring at her to notice.

"Um, I- did I say congratulations?" she began nervously.

"Uh yeah you d-did" said James finally.

"Well, I- um" she sighed and looked at her shoes "I'm proud of you" she said softly, her face burning.

She stared at her shoes for a little while, and when she finally looked up she noticed him beaming at her.

"Thanks" he said, just as softly as she did, a slight blush creeping up his cheeks.

She smiled at him before embracing him in a hug, hesitant though it may be, it was still a hug and James was ecstatic. Unfortunately it was quite a quick hug and afterwards Lily practically ran away from him, leaving him standing in the corner of the room grinning like an idiot.

"Um Prongs? You're drooling" said Sirius and James hurried to wipe his mouth, only finding that it was completely dry and scowling at his now snickering best friend.

"You're mean" he said crossing his arms over his chest.

Sirius responded by poking his tongue out at him.

"Very mature Padfoot" said Remus rolling his eyes as he walked over to his best friends.

"Thank you!"

This time both Remus and James rolled their eyes.

"You know if you two keep rolling your eyes so much they're eventually gonna fall out. Especially yours Moony" said Sirius very seriously.

"Why mine?"

"Well because of all the reading you do"

Remus was about to retort when James cut in.

"Uh guys?"

"Yeeee-haw?"

"Prongs?" asked Remus.

"Yeah?"

"Did Padfoot just ye-haw?"

"I believe so"

"Who gave him the sugar?"

"Who said anyone gave me sugar?" Sirius cut in, trying to keep a straight face. It didn't work and he broke out in giggles.

"Padfoot..." said James.

"What?" said Sirius bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

"I think it's time to get you to bed..."

"But it's still early" he whined.

"Pads it's nearly one in the morning" said Remus, surprised by how quickly the time went as he checked the clock on the wall of the common room.

"And we have lots of _stuff _to do tomorrow" said James grinning.

"OH! You mean planning our pranks?" asked Sirius, oblivious to the fact that there were still people in the common room that could hear him.

James slapped his forehead with his hand and motioned for Remus to help him as he attempted to drag Sirius up the stairs.

"NOOOO! YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" cried Sirius quite loudly, making a scene.

"Oh stop being such a drama queen" said Remus, this shut Sirius up and he began sulking. At least until they got back into their dorm and began yapping away happily.

Remus and James fell into their beds. Sirius was lying on his back so that he could talk to both his friends at the same time, seeing as how they were on either side of him.

Remus and James shared a knowing look over Sirius' bed and Remus promptly got out his wand and put a silencing charm on Sirius and his bed. Both knew that it would wear of soon so they hurried to get to sleep while they had the chance.

Sirius kept talking for quite a while before noticing Remus sleeping and muttering something about 'ungrateful friends' and deciding to go to sleep himself.

James on the other hand, was wide awake but turned away from Sirius so that he could get some peace and time to think… about Lily. And about what she had said to him, _I'm proud of you. _He fell asleep with a smile on his face.

--

Somebody was yelling in the marauders' dorm room.

"UP, UP, UP! EVERYONE'S GONE! IT'S TIME TO PRANK!"

"Shut up Padfoot" mumbled James putting his pillow over his head to block out the noise.

"NO!"

"Pads if you don't shut the hell up right now I _will _castrate you" threatened Remus, copying James' idea and putting his own pillow over his head. Sirius yelped but kept up his antics, this time going for a new approach: chucking inanimate objects at them.

James got up to complain and ended up being hit squarely in the face with a rather large metallic object.

James looked at the object and blinked.

Sirius looked at the object and blinked.

Remus looked at the object and ran to get it away from the others. This didn't work as James and Sirius were just as fast as him and so they ended up in yet another wrestling match.

"I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" shouted James as he ran around the room with the object in his hand, then tripped over one of the shoes that Sirius had been throwing.

Sirius and Remus walked over to him and plopped onto the floor beside him.

"Guys… if we can get this to work, do you have any idea how much trouble we could cause?" asked Sirius eagerly.

"That's what I'm afraid of..." said Remus, "hey how is it that you and James know what it is anyway?"

"Well you're not the only one who took Muggle Studies" stated James.

"Please Moony, can you help us?" asked Sirius, producing his famous puppy-dog eyes.

Remus sighed, "Yeah alright"

"YAY!" yelled James and Sirius simultaneously.

"You know, this might actually be fun…" mused Remus grinning, "_after _Christmas Holidays"

"Awww why do we have to wait?" whined Sirius.

"Because we're going to need books from the library, and it's going to look a little incriminating if I start looking up stuff about it now"

"Good point" said James.

Remus took the object and put it into his trunk, "Now… I believe someone said something about pranking?"

The three shared a knowing grin and ran out the door.

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